I Watched The George A. Romero Resident Evil Documentary. Now I'm Left With Even More Big Questions

When I was younger, I remember reading about how George A. Romero, the man who gave us some of the best zombie movies and pretty much changed the face of horror, was originally going to direct a Resident Evil adaptation years before the franchise gave moviegoers some of the worst video game adaptations ever made. The movie, like several other unrealized Romero projects from later in his career, never came to fruition, and hordes of fans were left wondering “What if?”

I recently watched George A. Romero’s Resident Evil, a deep-dive documentary about the late filmmaker’s life and career and how he came this close to taking the survival horror game off the console and onto movie screens around the world. After checking it out, I was left with some big questions about Romero, Resident Evil, and zombie movies of the past 25 years in general.

First And Foremost, How Would The World Have Received Romero's Version Of Resident Evil?

Though George A. Romero’s version of Resident Evil never saw the light of day (or a production set), the new documentary does go into some level of detail about the Night of the Living Dead director's vision for the project. By all accounts, it was going to be a more violent, gorier, and terrifying take on the franchise than what we’d ultimately see in Paul W.S. Anderson’s 2002 adaptation and subsequent sequels.

Here’s the thing, I can’t figure out how the world would have received it. Sure, Romero’s legions of fans and the undead-obsessed horror hounds out there would have flocked to movie theaters to see what he'd cooked up in his first zombie movie in a decade and a half, but what about everyone else? I love Romero’s work (Dawn of the Dead is a top-3 movie for me), but his love of violence and social commentary might have pushed the general audience away.

Would It Have Spawned A Massive Film Franchise?

In the George A. Romero’s Resident Evil trailer, it is brought up multiple times that Constantin Film, the production company that has had the film rights to the franchise for nearly 30 years, wasn’t happy with the level of violence and tone of Romero’s vision. This leads me to believe that even if the first movie had been made, turning it into a franchise would have been next to impossible.

As is the case with Romero’s best zombie movies, Resident Evil would have had shocking levels of violence and gore, meaning that it would have been released with an NC-17 rating (or no rating at all), resulting in a small box office run. Low performers don’t get sequels, and it’s hard to imagine a franchise coming off of this (though I would still love to see it). I’m sure it would have been rebooted or retooled – this is happening with Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil restarting the franchise again – but would it reach the levels of success of Paul W.S. Anderson’s six-film series? I’m not entirely sure.

What About Paul W.S. Anderson's Career?

Paul W.S. Anderson was already building a nice career for himself even before he wrote and directed the first Resident Evil movie back in 2002. He had sizable hits with Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and he brought out a badass Kurt Russell performance in 1998’s Soldier. However, since the start of the 21st century, much of Anderson’s work has been set in and around Raccoon City.

After learning more about Romero’s plan for the adaptation, which seemed like it was close to happening, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to Anderson if he had missed out on the project. During his time with the franchise, from 2002 to 2016, Anderson also worked on a few other movies like Alien vs. Predator and Death Race. Would he have gotten those with his work on RE, or would he have been able to try some other avenues in Hollywood?

If Resident Evil Had Worked Out, Romero's 'Dead' Franchise Would Have Probably Stopped At Day Of The Dead, Right?

After his Evil plans fell through, Romero wrote and directed Bruiser, a 2000 horror flick about a magazine creative director who awakes to discover that he doesn’t have a face and goes on a murderous rampage. He most likely wouldn’t have made the oft-forgotten thriller, at least at that time, and I have a similar thought about his final three zombie movies: Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead.

If RE had been made, taken off and turned into a franchise (I know I already said that’d be unlikely, but hear me out), it’s hard to imagine Romero having enough time to go back to his original Dead series and pick up after Day of the Dead. While that means we probably would have lost out on the admittedly great Land of the Dead and its continued evolution of zombies, it also means we probably wouldn’t have to suffer through his final two undead films. You know, I think that’s a trade I’d be willing to make.

How Would Zombie Movies And TV Shows In General Look Now?

After watching this documentary, I just want to know what zombie movies and TV shows in general would look like now. Though the Resident Evil movies aren’t diehard fans’ favorite examples of the genre, they did put a lot more eyes on the undead and helped usher in the next era of zombie movies that would ultimately lead to The Walking Dead taking over the planet.

Romero was no fan of the long-running AMC series, mostly because it lacked his biting social commentary, but I can’t help but wonder if his failed attempt at adapting a video game helped open the door for arguably the most successful non-superhero comic book adaptation in TV history.

All in all, George A. Romero’s Resident Evil was a great love letter to the man who helped start the zombie genre and everything he put into a project that ultimately didn’t pan out. I guess this is just another case of what could have been…